Basic Patch Design in Absynth 3

Absynth is a tricky softsynth. There are a lot of parameters that sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Hopefully, this post will shed some light on how to make interesting sounds with Absynth. Even though Native Instruments has released version 4, version 3 is still very powerful and fun to use.

This post will demonstrate how I turned the default sound of Absynth into a patch with a lot of mood and atmosphere.

1. Start with the program in the “Main” window and select an empty bank. Right away you should name the patch and store it to that empty slot by using the “store to” and “store” buttons.

2. Once you have your basic template saved, click on the “patch” section to begin shaping the sound.

3. For this patch, I chose to use 3 oscillators with Osc. 1 set at FM, Osc. 2 set to double and Osc. 3 set to fractalize.

4. Adjust the filters and the modulators for each oscillator as you see fit. For this patch, I chose to not use a modulation source on Osc. 3 in order to save CPU cycles.

5. Adjust the volume of your Oscillators in order to achieve the balance you like. Remember, adjusting the volume of one Oscillator subsequently adjusts the volumes for the other 2 oscillators to compensate.

6. Select whether you want the master bus out to be in either stereo or mono. For this patch I chose stereo.

7. Click on the filter section and then click on edit in order to edit the master bus filter.

8. Absynth 3 will only allow one type of effect on the master bus so it is your decision as to what type suits your tastes. For this patch, I chose to go with a pipe style reverb.

9. For this type of reverb, I set the input for the effect at the beginning of the cycle and chose the Left and Right positions to determine when the effect is at it’s fullest in the cycle.

10. Adjust whatever other options you choose and then adjust your dry/wet balance to your liking.

11. Click on the ‘ENV” button to edit the envelopes of the 3 oscillators.

12. For this patch, I adjusted the attacks of the 3 oscillators differently so that the sound evolves over time. I also added a noise wave via an LFO and placed it on Oscillator 2 to give it some extra spice.

13. Adjust any parameters to suit your needs.

14. Return to the main screen and click on the “LFO” button.

15. Here you can adjust any master bus LFO settings and assign parameters to any position on your MIDI keyboard,

16. For this patch, I only used 1 of the 3 master LFO’s in order to save CPU cycles.

17. Once I selected the parameters for the master LFO to modulate, I assigned it to be controlled via the modwheel in the controller section of this screen.

18. Return to the main screen and click on the “MIDI” button.

19. This screen lets you adjust overall velocity and MIDI controls. Adjust to suit your needs.

20. Return to the main screen, save your patch and play.

Basic Patch Design In Thor

This basic tutorial will demonstrate how I turn a simple analog signal into a rich pad that fits the aural aesthetics I strive for in Small Dot Complex’s music.

I start off with a single Analog Oscillator with no filtering or modulation. 

As you can hear in the audio clip it sounds rather dull. Thor, however, is an amazing softsynth that is capable of producing rich sounds. So, to turn this single oscillator into something usable, spices are added to the mix.

1. Create an analog oscillator for slots 2 and 3. Tune osc. 1 to -10 and osc. 2 to +10. Keep osc. 3 in its default position.

2. Route Oscillators 1 and 3 to filter 1 and Oscillator 2 to filter 2.

3. Create a comb filter for filter 1 and a formant filter for filter 2.

4. Adjust the frequency and resonance of filter 1 to your liking and adjust the gender and X/Y positions of filter 2 to your liking.

5. Set each filter’s drive to roughly 80%.

6. Adjust the Osc. Mixer section to your liking.

You should end up with something like this:

7. Now, adjust the Decay, Sustain and Release to your liking.

8. Activate the chorus and turn down the delay and increase the dry/wet balance to your liking.

9. Here’s where it gets fun. In the programming window, route filter 1 to the amp pan and have it modulated by LFO1. Turn key sync and tempo sync on and set the waveform and rate to your liking.

10. Next, set LFO2 to modulate the feedback of the chorus when Thor’s Rotary 1 knob is twisted.

You should have something like this:

 

11. Finally, flip the rack around and connect LFO2’s cv out to Rotary 1’s cv in and rotate the knob to suit your preferences.

Save the patch and play.

Remember, Thor will not save the cv cable routing as patch data so you will have to reconnect the cv cable each time you use this patch in a song file.

Alternatively, if you use this patch inside of a combinatory, the cv routing will be saved.

First Test

This is a test. Eventually, this blog will become documentation on sound design and music creation for Small Dot Complex.